Multicultural Center welcomes scholar-in-residence

Architecture educator Sutton to spend two weeks on campus, community projects

By Joni Bentz Seal, onCAMPUS staff

In what is hoped to be the first of a series of annual scholars-in-residence to serve the Multicultural Center, architecture educator and author Sharon E. Sutton will visit the center from April 21-May 1. Several activities are planned to assist the center, educate students of architecture and related majors, and provide support to a handful of community projects.

A professor in the College of Architecture and Urban Planning and the director of the Center for Environmental Education and Design Studies (CEEDS) at the University of Washington, Sutton focuses her research on youth, culture and the environment.

Sharon Sutton

"As an architect, Sutton looks at architecture through a cultural, social lens, and talks about placemaking, which I thought was a wonderful fit with our quest to define home space and determine its meaning within the Multicultural Center," said Christine Ballengee Morris, director of the center. "She works primarily with elementary school children who create and critique their own space, addressing the cultural, race and ethnic issues that come into play."

This year's theme for the Multicultural Center is homeland security -- but in terms beyond the government's meaning, Ballengee Morris said.

"We've been investigating homeland security from multiple perspectives, such as what is home, what does security mean, who's ever had it, and what do you sacrifice to achieve homeland security," Ballengee Morris said. "Dr. Sutton's research ties in with our theme, and we wanted our scholar-in-residence to play an integral role in helping us move forward with our study and implementation of the significance of home space on many levels."

In this capacity, Sutton will help the Multicultural Center assess upcoming space challenges as the center looks to adapt its growing staff and service needs, especially in relation to possible renovation of the Ohio Union, where the center is housed on the fourth floor. A feasibility study is currently underway, and the center has the opportunity to provide input and serve an active role in its future, permanent home space, which Ballengee Morris says extends beyond decorating.

"Home space delves into building structure, the placement of things, and the comfort and function of an area," she said. "As a 'multicultural' body, we need to be sure our new home is a comfortable blend for the many constituencies we serve."

The center will play a foundational role in Sutton's research by introducing her to Ohio State's environment and community to help nurture this new collaboration, which Ballengee Morris hopes will be added to Sutton's list of research projects. The project also will foster the center's dialogue on homeland security from a class point of view.

But perhaps most importantly, Ballengee Morris hopes Sutton's visit will demonstrate the support the Multicultural Center can offer other university departments and help them make connections with the center -- especially those units that may not have seen a connection in the past.

"The School of Architecture was one of those units," Ballengee Morris said. "After all, who would leap to the connection between cultural issues and architecture? Dr. Sutton can and has made that connection, and her work is helping us build another bridge to a previously unserved university area."

"In the Knowlton School, we teach architecture as part of a broad cultural context," said Robert Livesey, professor and director of the school. "Dr. Sutton is a well-recognized architectural educator and an advocate for women's and social issues. There is no one better than she to present the impact of the environment on social issues."

At the University of Michigan, Sutton became the first African American woman in the United States to be promoted to full professor in an accredited professional degree program in architecture. She also was inducted into Michigan's Women's Hall of Fame of Life Achievements.

According to Ballengee Morris, Sutton considers herself a model for women and minority students who may not feel they could go into a career that they view is predominantly "not them."

"Part of her visit here will be working with students in small groups, looking at connecting and encouraging fields that historically are male Caucasian disciplines," she said.

Sutton also likes to share her life experiences to show how they've allowed her to take on fields that haven't traditionally been connected, Ballengee Morris added. She is a renowned researcher, author, artist and lecturer, speaking not only on architecture, but interior design, landscape architecture, planning and psychology. Her fine art has been exhibited and collected by galleries, museums, businesses and universities.

"In Sharon Sutton, we see a faculty woman who's been successful in an area where women and minorities haven't made much progress," said Judy Fountain, director of The Women's Place. "When you realize that she didn't have any role models -- that there were no African American women in architecture for her to emulate -- you realize how much energy women have to put in to create their own paths."

During her 10-day visit to campus, Sutton will facilitate group discussions and workshops with students and members of the Multicultural Center staff. She also will attend the Multicultural Center Awards banquet, select activities of the African American Heritage Festival, and will meet with members of the Columbus YWCA in regard to a community project.

Sutton also will present "Architecture from a Cultural, Social and Political Lens" as part of a lecture series sponsored by the Knowlton School of Architecture, and will be honored with a reception hosted jointly by the President's Council on Women's Issues, The Women's Place and Women in Architecture.

Ballengee Morris hopes Sutton's relationships with these groups will continue long after she leaves Ohio State, and is confident this first stint by a scholar-in-residence will serve as a model for future collaborations.

"Not only will Sharon Sutton and future scholars-in-residence open doors for growth within the Multicultural Center, they will allow us to support the university's cultural connectivity, which is what the center was created to do," she said.

OSU to host state, national tourneys for Science Olympiad

By Randy Gammage, onCAMPUS staff

Eighty teams of middle and high school Science Olympians will travel to Ohio State April 12 to pit their knowledge of various sciences against that of teams from across the state.

The Ohio Science Olympiad state tournament will contest 23 events -- such as Robo-Billiards, Bridge Building and Disease Detectives -- to determine individual honors and send the top four teams to the national tournament, to be held at Ohio State May 9-10.

The competition is sometimes heavy just to nail down a spot on a 15-member team, which studies and meets after school throughout the year, garnering skills in everything from astronomy and biology to engineering and medicine. Participation is open to all public and private middle and high school students, said Sarah Sieling, Continuing Education program coordinator and state director of Science Olympiad.

"The nice thing about Science Olympiad is that kids have the opportunity to compete as a team; they learn to work together with others to be successful," Sieling said. "There are very few opportunities like that available outside of sports."

Science Olympiad is a national nonprofit organization established in 1983, devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition of outstanding achievement in science education by students. These goals are accomplished through classroom activities, research, training workshops and the encouragement of intramural district, regional, state and national tournaments.

As organizer of the state tournament since 1993, Sieling has been responsible for securing event sponsors both on and off campus. One of the diehards has been Mary Bailey, program administrator for undergraduate chemistry, who has spearheaded the chemistry events since 1987.

The events sponsored by the Department of Chemistry this year are Qualitative Analysis, Polymer Detective, Science Crime Busters, Can't Judge a Powder and Chemistry Lab.

"The events are designed to be enjoyable, but they also involve a lot of serious effort on the part of the students who are competing," Bailey said.

Each year, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff assist Bailey in conducting chemistry-related events on tournament day.

Events are held at various locations across campus, with the bulk of activity occurring at French Field House and the Ohio Union. Many colleges host open houses and displays in conjunction with the tournament, hoping to capture the attention of potential future honors students.

CeAnn Chalker, an Olympiad coach and parent, can testify to the power of the Science Olympiad as a recruiting tool. Two of her children graduated from Ohio State and were honors students, while another will be on campus pursuing an engineering degree this fall -- all of them were introduced to the university through Science Olympiad.

"Our two oldest kids started participating in Science Olympiad when they were in the ninth grade, so by the time they were high school seniors the Ohio State campus was practically home to them," Chalker said.

As coach of a middle school team at Magsig Middle School in Centerville, she brings about 30 students to the Columbus campus for the Olympiad each year, and turns it into a two-day adventure. First thing they do is eat lunch at the Ohio Union, then it's off for a three-hour walk around campus to familiarize themselves with the locations of each of the Olympiad events.

Chalker said that preparation for the Olympiad begins in September when students begin studying college level textbooks and comparing research notes during practice sessions after school.

"These kids are studying subjects like astronomy, biology, chemistry and meteorology -- things that are way, way beyond their grade level in preparation for the Science Olympiad," Chalker said.

While there are 23 events contested, competing students don't need to master all 23, since only two to three team members compete in each event.

"One of the things I like about Science Olympiad is that there are events for the top scientists, and then there are events for students interested in other things, such as computer technology," Sieling said. "They don't have to be the top science students in the school to be on the team."

The emphasis on Science Olympiad is on learning, participation, interaction, having fun and developing team spirit. Yet team trophies and individual medals are presented during an evening awards ceremony that rivals the pageantry of the Olympic games.

Until now, the state Olympiad tournament has benefited from state funds, which Sieling said were dropped during Gov. Bob Taft's recent rounds of budget cuts. A fund-raising campaign will be developed in the future to help support state tournaments.

In the meantime, Ohio State dollars are helping to support the May 9-10 national tournament, expected to attract teams from across the country to campus. The university is pledging a total of $50,000 in scholarships to be awarded to first-place winners in the high school events, Sieling said, while the Office of Development is donating $50,000 for operating expenses for the event.

However, she said volunteers are desperately needed. For a volunteer form for the national tournament, visit the Web at www.so2003atosu.org/.

For details on the state or national Science Olympiad tournaments, contact Sieling at 292-8571 or sieling.1@osu.edu, or visit the Web at www.continuinged.ohio-state.edu/scioly or www.soinc.org.

Benefits plans can be changed during open enrollment

By Susan Wittstock, onCAMPUS staff

Throughout the month of April, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to make changes to their benefits plans, effective July 1. For the 2003-04 plan year, voluntary life insurance programs, select-term disability and dental and vision plan rates will not increase, but premiums for all medical plans will increase by an average of 18 percent.

Nationally, health care premiums are rising at a rate level in the upper teens, said Nick Maul, director of benefits for human resources. That translates to a cost increase of $20 million for Ohio State in the coming year.

"The majority of the increase will be carried by the university," said Larry Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources. "The university is paying for about $18 million of that increase, which leaves $2 million of the additional cost to be shouldered by faculty and staff."

Ohio State found some ways to reduce costs this year. As of July 1, NGS American will assume Third Party Administrator duties from Central Benefits, and the university will partner with a network provider, Medical Mutual of Ohio, to serve faculty and staff enrolled in the Traditional and Buckeye medical plans.

"Our transfer to a new TPA and a new Ohio provider network is estimated to save us $2 million this year," Lewellen said.

University administrators have to face tough choices when determining what percentage of increased costs should be passed on to faculty and staff, Lewellen said, because funding for benefits and for salaries all come from the same funding pool.

"This coming year, about $7 million of the $20 million increase will be taken from Ohio State's general funds budget, which means that's money we won't be able to use for salary increases," he said. "It's a careful balancing act, trying to keep the cost increases for benefits from creating an undue burden on faculty and staff, while at the same time providing an appropriate increase in salary levels."

A health care investment committee will be convened this summer to study the health plans and make recommendations for changes in upcoming years.

Enrollment details

• Dental and vision plans.

A few improvements were made in the annual coverage limits of the dental and vision plans for the 2003-04 plan year. The vision plan will be increasing coverage of frames (for every other plan year) from $105 to $155 and contact lenses coverage will increase from $75 to $130 when using network providers. The maximum annual benefit for dental coverage is increasing from $1,000 to $1,200 and the orthodontia lifetime maximum is increasing from $1,000 to $1,200.

"These were recommendations made by SCBC (Staff Compensation and Benefits Committee) in their annual report," Lewellen said.

There is currently no deductible for vision coverage, but a $15 deductible is being added for next year. The dental deductible will be raised from $20 to $40.

"When looking at our benchmarks, we found that most plans have a deductible for vision and that deductibles for dental tend to be $50," Maul said.

No changes were made to the monthly employee contribution for the vision and dental plans.

• Network plan changes.

For the network plans -- University Prime Care, Regional University Prime Care and OSU Health Plan (network) -- the co-payment for a primary care physician (such as pediatricians, OB-GYN and family practice) will remain at $15, but the co-payment for specialist physicians (such as cardiology, endocrinology and neurology) will increase to $25.

"Specialists offer services that are more expensive than primary care physicians. The plan still pays the vast majority of the cost, but with today's cost pressures, we can no longer afford to offer a flat rate on all care," Maul said.

Out-of-pocket limits will be changing as well. The single limit will increase from $1,500 to $2,000 and the family limit will be reduced from $4,500 to $4,000. Changing the family limit to two times the limit for singles brings OSU's plan in alignment with the plans offered by most benchmark institutions, Maul said.

This coming year all Urgent Care sites will have a $30 co-payment. The University Health Connection will maintain a $15 co-payment for all walk-ins.

Increases in monthly premium contributions translate to approximately $7 for singles and $24 for families enrolled in Prime Care.

• Non-network plans.

Deductibles for non-network plans -- OSU Health Plan (non-network), Traditional and Buckeye -- will increase from $400 to $500 for single coverage and from $1,200 to $1,500 for family. The out-of-pocket limits will increase from $2,000 to $2,500 for single coverage and decrease from $6,000 to $5,000 for family coverage.

Increases in monthly premium contributions translate to approximately $6 for singles and $20 for families in OSU Health Plan and Traditional Health Plans, and $7 for singles and $29 for families in the Buckeye Health Plan.

• Pharmacy plan.

The retail minimum of pharmacy benefits will increase from $10 to $15 and the retail maximum will increase from $75 to $80. The annual out-of-pocket maximum will increase from $1,500 to $1,750.

For home delivery, the co-pays will increase from $12 to $15 for generic drugs; $35 to $45 for preferred brand name; and $45 to $65 for non-preferred brand name.

Compensation benchmarks

Study compares OSU benefits, salaries with other institutions

By Susan Wittstock, onCAMPUS staff

In preparation for making compensation recommendations for Fiscal Year 2004, university administrators presented a compensation benchmarking study to the Board of Trustees on April 4.

"On average, faculty and staff salaries are significantly behind market," Larry Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources, told trustees. "Faculty salaries have significantly slipped compared to benchmarks in recent years and our staff salaries lag behind competitive markets and the state of Ohio."

Graduate associates also are under-funded. "Our net financial support for graduate associates is among the lowest for our benchmarks, particularly for health care sponsorship," Lewellen said.

In the area of benefits, Ohio State is keeping pace with its benchmarks. "We have seen significant increases in the costs for benefits in recent years, but so have our benchmarks," Lewellen said.

The study compared Ohio State's average faculty salaries with those of benchmark institutions for each of the past five years, compared staff salaries to external markets and the state of Ohio, compared levels of support for graduate associates at benchmark institutions, examined how Ohio State invests its salary dollars in terms of gender and ethnicity, and compared the cost of benefits at Ohio State with other institutions.

Data for the study were collected and organized by the Office of Human Resources' Management Information Analysis and Reporting Team and Compensation Team. J. Stephen Henderson, director of compensation, was present to assist with questions.

The report does not contain recommendations for salary increases for next year. "This is important background information for when the time comes to make compensation budget decisions, but no decisions can be made while the state budget is still in a state of uncertainty," Lewellen said.

Barbara Snyder, vice provost for academic policy and human resources, reported that for 2002-03, Ohio State's average faculty salary of $78,840 is 4.4 percent below the benchmark average of $82,500. "Out of the 10 benchmark universities, only Washington and Arizona have lower averages," she said.

Five years ago, Ohio State's average salary was $66,890, or 2.1 percent below the benchmark average of $68,310.

When Ohio State ranks itself against its public benchmark institutions, it is eighth out of the 10 institutions for budget allocations for faculty salary increases during the past five years. The average five-year total is 20.7 percent; Ohio State's total increase adds up to 17.6 percent.

Snyder pointed out that "15 years ago we were near the top third of the AAU for faculty salaries; 10 years ago we were at the median; today we're almost in the bottom fifth." The AAU is the Association of American Universities, the 60 premier doctoral-granting institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

A comparison of staff salaries to external markets for 2002-03 shows that Ohio State is well below market in almost all occupational groups. The results, by job category, show: managers and administrators, 9.2 percent below average; professional, 18.3 percent below average; paraprofessional, technical, 18.3 percent below average; skilled craft, 8.9 percent below average; and service, maintenance, 15.9 percent below average.

Only clerical and secretarial positions are above average, with 5.3 percent. "We believe this is because we have a significant number of long-service people raising the average, but the rest of this group may still be below market," Lewellen said.

Staff salaries, compared to the state of Ohio for 2002-03, are not as disparate, but also tend to lag behind.

Administrators also reported on net institutional support for graduate students for the fall of 2001. On average, Ohio State provides $11,090 of financial and medical benefit support for resident students; the benchmark and public CIC institutions provide an average of $12,922. The CIC is the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a group comprised of the Big Ten institutions plus the University of Chicago. Net support totals the stipend and health care support, and subtracts any fees and health care premiums the graduate associates must pay.

The report included a study of total investments (all base salary increases and cash bonuses) for fiscal year 2002-03 by classification. In terms of gender, the study found that male employees received, on average, a 4.73 percent salary increase, while females received a 4.84 percent increase. Specifically, male faculty received 4.83 percent while females received 4.98 percent; male administrative and professional employees received 4.5 percent while females received 4.8 percent; and male classified civil service (CCS) received 4.62 percent while females received 4.77 percent.

Minority faculty received, on average, a 4.93 percent increase, while white faculty received 4.87 percent.

Administrative and professional minority employees received 4.37 percent; white administrative and professional employees received 4.76 percent. There was a 4.74 percent increase for minority CCS staff and a 4.7 percent increase for white CCS staff.

"This shows that deans, chairs, and vice presidents are doing an excellent job of ensuring investment across race and gender," Lewellen noted.

The report also included a cost comparison for benefits among 20 higher education institutions. The average estimated premium cost for 2003-04 is $3,791; Ohio State's cost is projected to be $3,848.